Drawer attachment for telephones



Dec. 16, 1947. G. A. HIGBEE 2,432,760

DRAWER ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES Filed Feb. 16, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 in 0 HI Gnome;

Dec. 16, 1947. 7 3, HIGBEE 2,432,760

DRAWER ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES Filed Feb. 16, 1944 s Sheets-Sheet 2 8" 5 Inventor a Glen/z AH/gbu f attornelv Dec. 16, 1947;

I G. A. HIGBEE DRAWER ATTACHMENT FOR TELEP HdNES Filed Feb. 16, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 3nnentor 672m A H/gbee Patented Dec. 16, 1947' UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE 2,432,760 DRAWER ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES Glenn A. Hlgbce, Detroit, Mich. Application February 16, 1944, Serial No. 522,669 7 Claims. (01. 45-82T) l This invention relates to telephone attachents for conveniently listing commonly used phone numbers or takin'g down messages and particularly relatesito attachments of a sliding drawer type,

Various attachments have been heretofore designed for locating a drawer beneath a phone stand, but these have been unduly conspicuous, detracting from the appearance of the instrument. Moreover, the attachments referred to have been required to support the phone stand and hence have had to employ a considerably stronger and more costly construction'than was entailed by their drawer-mounting function. Modern phone stands are equipped with carefully designed and well-padded supporting feet and these could not function in using drawer attachments as heretofore designed.

A primary object of the invention is to install a sliding drawer attachment beneath a phone stand without imposing weight of the stand on such attachment or interfering with functioning of aforementioned feet.

Another object is to avoid detraction from the appearance of a phone stand in attaching a sliding drawer, and 'to particularly use concealed means for securing the attachment to the stand.

Another object is to operatively mount a sliding drawer beneath a phone stand utilizing the feet which are a standard feature of such a stand to secure the drawer mounting in place.

Another object is to equip a mounting for a sliding drawer with one or more spring latches which may be snapped into engagement with the usual supporting feet of a phone stand to retain the mounting between such feet.

These and various other'objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a modern cradle type phone stand, equipped with the improved drawer attachment, showing the drawer projected.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the stand, showing my attachment in front elevation.

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the ment.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view-of a drawer mounting.

stand and attach 2 Fig. 5 is a perspective view or the drawer, omitting its contents.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified mounting for. a sliding drawer.

Fig. 6a is a vertical sectional view of the mounting shown by Fig. 6, as attached to a phone stand.

Fig. 7 perspectively shows another type of drawer mounting.

Fig. 8 shows in front elevation the lower portion of a phone stand to which the mounting illustrated by Fig. 7 is applied.

Referring nowin greater detail to the drawings and describin'gfirst the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, the reference character I designates a modern cradle-type phone stand having a rectangular base portion and padded supporting feet 2 on its bottom face. These feet are attached to the corner portions of a bottom cover plate 3 normally rigidly carried by the stand. Said ,plate is upwardly inserted in the hollow base of the stand and spaced slightly inward therefrom, producing a crack or slot 4 extending entirely around the plate. The described features of the phone stand are standardlzed and it will presently be seen that a novel use is made of such features in applying my attachment.

My attachment comprises a mounting 5 and a drawer 6 slidable in such mounting, both formed of sheet material, preferably sheet metal. The mounting comprises a rectangular plate having its side margins upturned to form drawer guides i and its rear margin 8 upturned to form a drawer stop, the mounting thus having a shallow tray form. The width of the mounting adapts it toflt snugly between the front and rear feet of the stand. and its front to back dimension substantially equals the stand width at its base. The vertical overall dimension of the mounting is such as to provide :a slight clearance from a surface'engaged by the feet 2 when the mounting is applied. The drawer stop 8 has a central upstanding lug 9 adapted to enter the crack 4 and thus aid in positioning the mounting. The front and rear end portions of the guides l are partially severed from the plate element of the mounting to form oppositely projecting horizontal tongues ill, the mounting having adequate resiliency to give such tongues a spring nature. The free end portions of the tongues have a slight upward increase of their vertical dimension adapting them to enter the crack 4 and are outwardly bent substantially at right angles thus forming latch lugs ll, engageable in the crack 4 and above the feet 2. Normally the tongues are sprung outward slightly, and in attaching the mounting they are slightly retracted and snap into latching position above the feet. Obviously the mounting may be readily removed by retracting said tongues. The free ends of said tongues are further formed with lugs [2 of lesser upward extentthan the lugs H for seating the mounting against the cover plate 3.

The drawer has a shallow upstanding flange l3 at each margin, the front flange having a suitable central forward extension l4 therefrom serving as a handle, this being illustrated as bent to an approximate inverted U-form. To avoid complete withdrawal of the drawer in its normal use, a pair of stops l5 are struck outwardly at the rear of the drawer from the side flanges i3 for engagement with stops i6 upwardly struck from the front corner portions of the mounting. Adjacent the stops "5, notches Il interrupt the front edge of the mounting to accommodate small pads l8 of felt or the like adhesively secured to and beneath the front end portion of the drawer. These pads support the drawer, upon a slight sagging thereof occurring when it is fully or largely withdrawn, thus avoiding scratching or marring of any surface supporting the phone stand.

The contents of the drawer are a set of alphabetically indexed cards l9 to receive commonly used names and phone numbers, a pad 20 for messages, and a pencil 2|. A row of spaced tongues 22 struck upwardly from the drawer extends from front to back of the drawer dividing latter into a compartment toward the front of the phone stand for receiving the cards I9 and a smaller compartment toward the rear of the stand for receiving the pad 20. The pencil fits between the front flange of the drawer and one or more tongues 23 struck up in parallelism with said flange. The tongues 22 are of an arched form and have ends adjacent the pad 20 slightly spaced above the drawer. This adapts said tongues to serve as a loose leaf pivotal binder for the cards I9, the latter being slotted to engage such binder. The pad 20, when in place, prevents escape of the cards from the tongues 22.

The modified mounting 5a shown in Fig, 6 does not utilize the feet 2 for latch purposes. Thus spring tongues Illa project upwardly from lateral extensions 24 of the drawer guides 1a and from the drawer stop 8a and are sprung to a slight inward curvature, such that when engaged in the crack 4 they press against and slightly overhang the cover plate 3 to adequately retain the mounting in place.

The further modified mounting shown by Figs. 7 and 8 has wings lob outwardly extended from the mid portions of the drawer guides ID, for engagement respectively between the two front feet and the two rear ones. These wings have their forward and rear portions partially severed from the guides 1b to permit such portions to be normally sprung upwardly, giving the wings a bowed form. In applying this mounting, the same is pressed against the plate 3 of the stand with the wings located one between the front feet and the other between the rear ones. A slight further upward pressure is then applied to the mid portions of the wings such as to substantially flatten the same against the cover plate, this forcing the ing ends above the margins of the feet and thus atching the mounting in place.

It is an essential characteristic of the invention, whichever disclosed type of mounting is employed, that the attachment is fitted between the feet 2 of the phone stand and avoids interference with the intended function of said feet. A further common feature of the three types of mountings shown is complete concealment beneath the stand of the fastening means for the mountings.

While the drawer of my improved attachment is necessarily of quite shallow form, it serves to receive cards providing entry space for over three hundred names and numbers and the pad is adequate for a large number of messages.

It is a feature in adapting the described drawer and its mounting for low cost production, that they are both well adapted to be blanked out and fashioned as stampings.

Adapting the drawer to be laterally withdrawn from beneath the phone stand, makes its contents very conveniently available both for .reading and writing.

The term drawer is used in a broad sense in the appended claims, as defining a sliding carrier, not necessarily of a box form or having marginal walls.

What I claim is:

l. A drawer attachment for a phone stand having a bottom cover plate and a crack peripheral to the cover plate, said attachment comprising a sliding drawer, a mounting for such drawer, and means engaged in said crack for detachably securing the mounting to the stand.

2. A drawer attachment for a phone stand as set forth in claim 1, said cover plate having spaced feet thereon for supporting the stand, said securing means comprising elements projecting above said feet.

3. A drawer attachment for a phone stand, said attachment comprising a sliding drawer and a mounting having slide guides for the drawer, extending from the front to the rear portion of the mounting, the front and rear portions of one of said guides being partially severed from the main body of the mounting to form spring tongues for latching the mounting to a phone stand.

4. A drawer attachment for a phone stand, said attachment comprising a sliding drawer, a mounting for the drawer, and means on said mounting removably securing the mounting to a phone stand, the drawer having underlying supporting pads on its front portion, and the front portion of the mounting being notched to accommodate said pads.

5. A drawer attachment for a phone stand having a bottom cover plate inserted in the base of the stand and having a. crack peripheral to such plate, said attachment comprising a sliding drawer and a mounting for such drawer, the mounting having a plurality of upstanding spring tongues engageable in said crack and embracing the cover plate to yieldably secure the mounting to the stand.

6. A drawer attachment for a phone stand having a plurality of spaced underlying supporting feet and having a bottom cover plate inwardly spaced from the body of the stand, said attachment comprising a sliding drawer, and a mounting for said drawer proportioned for disposal between the feet and having a plurality of positioning upward projections engageable between said bottom cover plate and the body of the phone stand.

7. A drawer attachinent for a phone stand having a bottom cover plate anda plurality of spaced.

supporting feet, said attachment comprising a drawer normally retracted beneath saidjstand and slidable between twoo! said feet to a projected position, of means for attaching said serted between a-margin of the cover plate and the body of the stand. v

GLENN A. -HIGBEE.

REFERENCES crrap The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

= I Number 7, 814,492 1,005,422 1,078,117 1,172,382 1,213,185

, drawer to the stand, including an element in- 

